Some pictures from the flood

Remember that flood I told you about? Well...here's some pictures of the girls who saved the ranch...with a little help

And the rains came down...

Well, last week was definitely an adventure. We finally had rain for the first time in two months and when I say rain I mean raaaaaiiiiin! I was sitting reading on my front porch swing when I noticed some foreboading clouds moving our way. I literally sat there for about 20 minutes and watched a curtain of rain slowly move its way over the mountains and onto the ranch. It started with just a soft rain but quickly moved to driving rain mixed with pea sized hail. All of a sudden, the entire maintenance crew and several kitchen guys converged on the front lawn and began throwing sandbags at a furious speed. I looked at my friend Haley and quickly knew what we'd be doing for the rest of the afternoon! I quick threw on a sweatshirt and my sneakers and we ran outside to help with shoring up the ranch for a flood. So, there we were, eventually about 30 of us...staff and guests...were out throwing sandbags and making walls to direct the creek if it decided to overflow. For about 45 minutes-ish I stood in soaking grass with rain and hail pounding down on me throwing sand-bags. I definitely will not win an award for my bag throwing skills...but I will say it was one of the best and most memorable days off that I've had on the ranch.

Starting this week, we start losing people in droves. Some of the staff that has been here for over a year and a half are leaving...and it feels like an institution is departing or something. I mean, when I think of the ranch, I think of these people. It's a little nerve wracking to think of the slack all of us who are staying are going to have to be picking up. It's exciting too...you know how I feel about change and new things...I'm REALLY looking forward to this change. It's hard watching people come and go, but it's exciting to think about what God is going to do here with a brand new staff. This week, I'll be taking over more responsibilities, and then next week I will be the official head waitress....AHHHH!!! I'm frightened, but getting a little bit more excited about it too.

God is so good! When I thought about 13 weeks at the beginning of the summer...I almost died. But now that I look back, I can't believe how fast time has flown. I"m so excited for the Fall and the community that comes with it. I can't wait to have time to actually get to know the staff that will still be here. It's hard because I don't really feel that connected to many people who are leaving, so I'm not that sad. But I'm excited to finally be able to dig deeper with the ones who are staying.

Well, that's all for now, I need to take a shower...Love to everyone!

Bush wacking.

What's new...now there's a question!

I am now officially going to be the next head waitress of Lost Valley Ranch. Definitely not something I was expecting...at all. Definitely not something I'm looking forward to...at all. My friend Sable likes to say that God is a trickster. In this case, I'm beginning to agree. It does not follow, however, that his practical jokes are entirely unwanted. Just that I'd like a little warning before they show up. But then, I guess, life would cease to be an adventure.

And adventure becomes reality on this ranch. The other day, I went on a walk which started out on a path. A great path, infact. Wide, very definite, very predictable. Which is why I decided to leave the path, climb over the barbed wire fence and walk straight up the side of the mountain. I mean, who really wants to wait and follow the path? As I walked I realized the obvious analogy to my life. I'm pretty sure that every time I find a perfectly good path to follow, I decide to diverge from it into a long period of intense bush-wacking. I was on the fast track to a great life in Politics, Philosophy and Economics and decided to take a very large detour to become a rancher for a time. Bush wacking? I think so. Before that, I was on the fast track to being a teacher and decided to go to the one school in the country where no one takes a normal path and decided to abondon teaching for the elusive "liberal arts" degree. I'm a bush wacking extrodinaire! And I like it that way. So this little divergence back onto the path of leadership seems pretty fitting...and like a new adventure. So, I guess I am looking forward to it...aprehensively.

On light and bright side...last night we had a staff movie night on the lawn. We watched Ratatouille and sipped root beer floats and ate lots and lots of swedish fish...well, I did anyway. Definitely one of those nights that makes me thankful to be here. This week in general has been great. I'm serving a family of giants...not an exaggeration. They are all (women included) over 6 feet tall...I'm definitely the odd man out. But they are GREAT. I mean really great. And this is our last week in the 90's (guests and temperature!) so I"m pretty excited for the lower numbers in the coming weeks.

Well, time to do some much needed laundry. More news from across the Cattle Guard soon...